Disclaimer- I don't own Inuyasha, never have and probably never will. Thus resulting in my hopeless pining away for Sesshoumaru. Poor me. *Leaves to go sob in the corner.* Also, any quotes I put in belong to the said person.

A/N: OK, this is an AU Sess/Kagome fic and occurs in the Feudal Era. Everything is mostly the same, except there is no time travel and Kagome is a seemingly regular village girl. Sesshoumaru is still the Lord of the Western Lands and Inuyasha went through the same ordeal with Kikyou and is presently still stuck to the God Tree.

* ~ D A R K N E S S ~ ~ B E F O R E ~ ~L I G H T ~ *

By MysticMoon

The Beginning

"The future is purchased by the present." -Samuel Johnson

~.~.~.~.~ Village many years before the present in the Feudal Era~.~.~.~.~

The little children huddled together around the fire and stared expectantly at the village elder who sat staring into the flames. His eyes were unfocused, staring into the blazing fire, seeing something others could not.

The little ones looked up wonderingly at the aged man, his face lined and wrinkled because of endless labor on the fields. The bright white hair and beard that had prematurely turned out so because of the stresses of labor and long hours under the sun. His sparkling eyes that told of a life lived to the fullest and wisdom beyond comprehension.

In this village, he is well respected as well as feared. This man has lived an abnormally long life for this time, fighting against youkai that threatened the village and diseases that killed off so many. However it was occurrences such as these that the simple people of the village had reason to fear him. They feared the unexplainable, thinking that all it would bring is disaster. For this was not an ordinary man because he was, whether blessed or cursed, with the power of visions.

Visions of the future.

As a child, he would stare into fire for tense minutes. No one would be able to snap him out of his daze with his eyes glued to whatever the fires were telling him. He would come out of it and then run to his mother, exclaiming that someone would die or that the crops would fail. Even now, they have trouble in believing him, brushing away his accurateness as a 'coincidence.'

However now, something was definitely wrong. He had been sitting in front of the flames that for some reason, were still ablaze, for over three days.

Unexpectedly, the fire went out, as if doused by water.

"NOO!! THAT CAN'T BE!!!" came the elder's pained voice. The children jumped at his exclamation and scrambled to get help, not knowing what else to do. A woman ran toward the old man, who was clutching his chest frantically, gasping for breath.

"What, what is wrong?" asked the aged lady as she lay his head on her lap and started to stroke his face.

He held up his hand as she made a move to help him rise. "No, no, please…it is too late." The elderly man smiled softly as he saw the tears that were starting to well in her eyes. "Wife, you believe in my visions, do you not?" her husband asked frantically, his eyes wide.

"Yes, yes I do. Of course, I believe in you." she said fiercely.

" Remember my words well and pass them on, beloved, for my time draws near. The distant future looks hopelessly bleak, but there is a way to save it. I have been having visions that tell the tale of the Chosen One. The one that shall push back the darkness with her purity and bring peace throughout the land. But something has gone horribly wrong. The being of darkness has misconstrued time and now knows that a threat to his plans exists and will do everything in his power to be ready for it. He does not know who the Chosen One is, but will kill those he is suspicious of and work to build his strength."

"But husband, who told you this?"

In reply, he shook his head. Not enough time. He was growing weak. He reached into a pocket hidden within his robes and retrieved a tiny pouch. He put the priceless object in his wife's palm.

"Please, no more questions. I have protected this long enough, and now, you have to guard it with your life. Hand it down to our daughter when the time comes. When it finally comes along the path of the Chosen One, maybe, just maybe, the Dark One's plans will be foiled and the prophesy will be fulfilled." the old man said in one, raspy breath. Finally, his eyes closed for the last time.

The lady gasped as the deceased man's body glowed an eerie silver-purple. She was even more surprised at what happened next. The object in the precious pouch in her hand started to glow and pulse. Suddenly, in a swirl of purple, it seemed as if her husband's -soul- was -sucked- into whatever was in the pouch. She slowly, to the point of being painstaking, open the silky pouch and held out her left hand.

A silver ring fell into her open palm. It was beautiful. The ring had a design of an intricate wildflower with a mysterious purple gem in the middle. She looked at it in awe.

Then, the distraught being finally allowed herself to shed her tears.

Tears for her departed husband still on her lap.

Tears for the bleak and difficult future.

Tears of hope.

~.~.~.~.~ Present Day -Feudal Era~.~.~.~.~

A girl woke up in the middle of the night with a hand clutched to her heart. The light of the moon shone through the window from her hut, turning her face milky white and highlighting a ring on the fourth finger of her right hand. It was glowing with a purple light. "What…?" Kagome whispered to herself. She just had the strangest dream.

A/N: OK. There isn't a whole lot of stuff explained in this prologue. I feel so bad about it, but I had to put it there, or else you would be totally lost in the next chapters. If you have any questions or comment, just leave it in a review. This is my first fic, and I'll try to make it as good as I can. Please review!! *looks at you with puppy dog eyes* Pretty please?